Chapter 1: What does US politics look like after Trump?
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Political polarization's been rising for 40 years now, right? And at some point, I guess it can't get much worse. I don't know if that means it gets better, but at some point there might be a reaction to that.
Is it possible to talk about U.S. politics without talking about Donald Trump? That's the question I'm asking on a new show from Vox.
The idea of like a post-Trump or not exactly Trump-focused show can exist because he's not really driving any agenda items. It really does feel like so reactive.
Come 2028, America is supposedly turning the page on the current president. So who do we want to be? And what are the people and ideas that will shape our post-Trump future? That's what this podcast is about. Going deeper on politics by taking Trump out of the center and talking about politics as it relates to real life and culture and everything else.
Like, culture-wise, is Timothee Chalamet properly rated, overrated, or underrated?
Oh, God, now you're going to get me in trouble.
So, from Obama's tan suit to the manosphere and everything in between, what shapes who we are? I'm Astead Herndon, and welcome to America Actually. Okay, so I'm pumped to have two people here who are going to help us look at politics beyond Donald Trump from an expert lens. First, we have Hunter Harris, culture writer, screenwriter, and just generally coolness extraordinaire.
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Chapter 2: How does political polarization affect America?
Like, When we think about a politics that does not center Donald Trump, is that possible? I mean, he is the president.
Look, as we gain more perspective on the Trump era, maybe he seems as much of a symptom as a cause in some ways, right? You know, the Republican Party kind of built a coalition that was maybe always a little bit unstable. And people like me, like famously in 2016, 2015, I was like, yeah, we know how this works, right?
You have like the Rick Santorum's, you have the Michelle Bachman's, the people that like rise up and they're the flavor of the day. And then they dissipate when the electric gets serious, right? And so like-
Chapter 3: Is it possible to discuss US politics without Trump?
You know, not realizing how much Republicans felt like promises have been broken by the Bush era, how unpopular things like the Romney-Ryan welfare state was, but also like obviously the political potency of populism, of xenophobia, of racism.
Yeah. I mean, what about the question of is Trump a symptom? of a broken system or the cause of breaking that system. It feels like we've been in living in that question for a while. Like, do you think culturally at this point, you feel like you know a clear answer to that?
I don't know. I think it's hard.
I mean, I've kind of been working through this thesis for the past couple of months that, like, the only monoculture that, like, truly exists right now is Trump and is, like, the sort of Trumpist reaction to pop culture, where he, I think, is much more concerned by what the media is saying about him, you know, making these kind of, like, crazy, over-the-top, like, press conferences and, like, honestly, being a drama queen.
I really do think that, like, Trump... somehow, like, ended up in the White House and not, like, on a Bravo reality show. Like, he would have been a classic, like, rony housewife. And I say that, you know, with some respect.
But I think that really shows in how he's sort of, I mean, I think the idea of, like, a post-Trump or not exactly Trump-focused show can exist because he's not really driving any agenda items. It really does feel, like, so reactive.
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Chapter 4: What ideas will shape America's future beyond Trump?
Yeah, I'm like, in one way that monoculture feels real in the way he hogs attention, but it doesn't feel like the actual outcomes are dictated by some clear vision or some clear set of steps he's going through, more so than this kind of haphazardly nature. If we were to think about the individuals who are most likely to chart our post-Trump future, who would come to mind?
Let me throw out the obvious names. I'll throw out the likely presidential candidates, people like Gavin Newsom or J.D. Vance. I would throw out prospective ones like former Vice President Kamala Harris or even AOC as a person who obviously folks are thinking about.
If we get those names out of the way, who are people who you think might be some of the clues about the direction of power in our post-Trump world?
I mean, look, I do think the person that's had the biggest rise to political fame over the past year is the mayor of New York, Zoran Mamdani. And, like, I'm aware that I'm a New Yorker, so I'm probably biased, right? But, like, as something that was, like, very fresh and different, I think, right? And cut through. But also a kind of pragmatic streak, right?
When you're in mayor of New York City, most of the shit you're dealing with is, like, there's a blizzard or there's a budget crisis. Potholes, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Trash collection. Yeah. And he seems to be fairly popular. And there's a big debate on the left in particular about how much of an electoral penalty there is for being on the left as opposed to centrist or moderate, right?
You know, and sometimes what you want, if you want to push things to the left, is you want somebody who comes across as being reasonable and moderate, even though they actually are kind of pushing things in direction behind the scenes, right? Like in some ways, Kamala Harris was like the opposite of that, right? The centrists all think she was way too liberal.
The liberals all think she was a sellout centrist on Gaza and other stuff. Getting worst of both worlds. Right, and that's just a matter of maybe not having—maybe it's a skill thing. Maybe there's not all that much raw political talent there, even though in some ways she ran a better campaign than I thought she might.
But Mamdani has a lot of political talent and kind of a proof of concept that I don't know you're seeing elsewhere. I mean, on the GOP side, we'll talk. I don't know, right? It seems like I don't quite get— The J.D. Vance appeal very much at all, right? He only won one election before becoming vice president. He won by a relatively narrow margin in Ohio, which is now a quite red state, right?
You know, Rubio you could see more appeal. Yeah, someone who's in that mix. You know, I think this Iran thing is also going to cause a big split. In the GOP. So far, it doesn't among, like, people who say they're MAGA voters are still with Trump, but, like, Tucker Carlson and, I don't know, I have trouble keeping track of all these people, right?
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Chapter 5: Who are the emerging political figures in a post-Trump era?
Like, what do you mean by that? I think the left is too concerned with politeness and the right is not. Like Trump can say anything. J.D. Vance can say anything. And that's sort of the appeal to some voters that they like that sort of candidness and they like how it feels very kind of funny and casual where the left is a little bit wonkier and feels a bit too like from like bird's eye view.
And I think Zoran does this very well, where he feels casual, relatable, online in some ways. And it's not just like the Jasmine Crockett, which didn't work for her, like kind of the clap back, sort of getting a viral moment, but then it's like, to what end, truly? And I think Zoran is really good at that.
I mean, even the photos of him and Trump in the White House, I was like, you, sorry, Trump is obsessed. Trump has found someone that he wants to impress. That is very difficult. No one on the right has gotten that, has earned that.
I hear it. But to the Zoran point, do we think that that is a uniqueness that's because he is articulating kind of where people are? Or is it because he's younger, hotter, better looking? Like, is some of this like just a question of the type of candidate that is in front of us?
No, I think it's a little bit of both.
I think that, yes, Zoran is young and charismatic and cool, but at the same time, I think that his pushing past, you know, getting stuck in, like, ideological battles with, you know, leftists and, like, centrists, truly just to say, like, I'm running on one thing, that's affordability, is maybe doing more for, done more for him than, you know, anything that Kamala did.
All right. I want to ask about demographic groups like we are still in a changing country. Like I feel like we used to hear so much in 2016 and kind of 2017 about the changing demographics of America. And then all of a sudden everybody ran to the other side and said, oh, just because the country is getting blacker and browner does not mean that we are in this inevitably liberal direction.
I think that's true. We've seen that. But those changes are still reshaping politics. They're still reshaping culture. Like when we think about the ways America is changing from a hue perspective, from a makeup perspective, what are the groups we should be looking at that, you know, might be growing in terms of political importance?
Yeah, look, these generational divides within the Black community, within the Hispanic community, within the Asian American community, which is always growing, is pretty important, right?
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